This is the first time anyone has tried to predict body movement from music alone. It’s an interesting piece of AR research, and it could also have wide-ranging applications for music not only in gaming, but in the real world, too. If you wanted to learn a piece of piano music, for example, you could simply input the audio and then mimic the key movements of the avatar pianist — much more fun than those seventh grade lessons you were forced into.

Analyzing decades of data from more than 7,000 surgical patients, researchers have determined once and for all that music helps patients calm their anxiety before an operation and also reduces pain following the procedure.

“Besides individual music preference, specific features of the music intervention such as rhythm and harmony, and the use of specific instruments like string instruments, also seem important features in anxiety and pain reduction”, the authors wrote in the British Journal of Surgery. “Placebo effect cannot be ruled out as the studies relied on self‐reporting. It could be argued that a placebo effect is beneficial anyway, in this instance reducing anxiety and pain.”